Faced with questions about obstructing the RCMP from investigating his own office, Justin Trudeau stood smiling before the cameras and tried to hide behind the facade of the civil service.

“We respect the decisions made by our professional public servants. We respect the decision made by the clerk,” Trudeau said.

Which is strange because the reason the RCMP wanted to obtain documents from his office and speak to witnesses is because Trudeau didn’t respect the decision of the director of public prosecutions in the SNC-Lavalin case. In that instance, Trudeau and many in his office put extreme pressure on then attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould to overturn the decision of the director.

Some even called for Wilson-Raybould to take over the case so that SNC-Lavalin could walk away from a prosecution on bribery and corruption charges.

Now, Trudeau says he respects decisions made by professional public servants. Maybe because the decision made by the Clerk of the Privy Council effectively killed off the attempt by the RCMP to investigate Trudeau and those around him for breaking the law and engaging in obstruction of justice.

If you haven’t heard, we found out on the eve of the election call, via the Globe and Mail, that the Mounties attempted to investigate Trudeau and his office for obstruction but were themselves obstructed from fully doing so. The Clerk of the Privy Council, Ian Shugart, said he would not expand a limited waiver for people to talk to police or for documents to be handed over for examination.

He cited cabinet confidentiality.

So we have our national police force interested enough in finding out if Trudeau and his team broke the law that they are asking questions and the Privy Council Office (PCO) shuts them down. Trudeau and his team want you to think he had nothing to do with this decision but here is the reality: Shugart reports to Trudeau, not the other way around.

When the RCMP wanted to gain access to documents in the Mike Duffy investigation, a waiver was granted to allow access to those documents and for staff to speak freely to the police. When Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was on trial and the issue of cabinet confidence was raised, former prime minister Stephen Harper gave permission to open up any documents the court needed for the trial.

Even former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin granted a waiver on cabinet confidence to allow the Gomery Commission to investigate the Sponsorship Scandal.

That Trudeau is not granting a waiver and hiding behind the PCO decision shows he simply wants this shut down.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer called on Trudeau to immediately waive cabinet confidence to allow the RCMP to gain access to people and documents.

“We know that the power to waive cabinet confidence and the power to waive privilege rests with the prime minister. That is clear. It’s within his power to do so,” Scheer told reporters before boarding his campaign plane in Ottawa.

The problem is that the RCMP have put any investigation or inquiries on this matter on hold while the election takes place. It’s part of a policy that stops the Mounties from conducting sensitive probes during elections.

That doesn’t mean Trudeau shouldn’t waive cabinet confidence and allow people to speak or documents to be obtained — he should. But he should have done so months ago.

Instead, Trudeau has been trying to walk past this scandal by shutting down a House of Commons committee, blocking the ethics commissioner and now obstructing an RCMP investigation.